"You can't send a telegram like this!" Li Hao stopped the chief of staff who was about to leave.
"Tell the political commissar: The enemy's revenge will not last for a few days, and they will retreat when it is over. Let me fight all the troops left behind in the base area with confidence and boldness. Don't worry about the enemy occupying the base area and not leaving. But we must change the way we fight, and change from passive to active."
"The first step: transfer all the people within a thirty-kilometer radius around the Japanese and puppet troops, and clear the country. If the Japanese want to burn down their houses, let them do so. As long as the villagers are safe."
"The second step: mobilize local troops and guerrillas to lay a large number of landmines on the roads that the Japanese must pass through, killing every one of them."
"Don't they want to retaliate? Yes, but in the entire process of retaliation, the troops will have to pay a huge price for every step forward."
"The crazier the revenge, the more casualties there will be."
"The third step: Taking advantage of the Japanese's eagerness to retaliate against us, the main force chooses the battlefield by itself, takes the initiative to attack, and uses ambushes, mobile warfare, and night battles to consume a large number of their troops and reduce our operational pressure to encircle and annihilate them."
After Li Hao finished speaking, Hong Linfeng just finished recording the order.
After receiving the telegram, he checked it carefully, signed his name quickly, and handed it to Zhou Liang.
The commander of the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan had a very serious expression.
The reconnaissance force just sent a telegram: they have found the bodies of the Zhangjiakou reinforcements and are ambushing them at the blocking position.
More than a thousand corpses were scattered and buried in several places.
Everyone had already guessed this result, and it was not too surprising. What really shocked the commander was the time of their death.
Judging from the condition of the corpses, these imperial soldiers had been dead for at least three days.
This means that the logistics base must have been captured by the Eighth Route Army three days ago.
There were only so many Eighth Route Army troops attacking the county seat, and it was impossible to fight on both sides.
Only by capturing the county town first can we have enough troops and firepower to attack the reinforcements and eat them.
This was the only correct judgment made by the military commander after the big sweep began.
Then the whole person's mood became bad.
The Eighth Route Army deliberately concealed the news that they had captured the county town, and there must be something up their sleeve.
Being able to capture a heavily defended county town in one night, and then continue to fight and eat more than 2,000 reinforcements, this army must be very strong.
Three days is enough time for them to move to anywhere on the battlefield.
If they have a plot, no matter which mopping up force they target, they will be a huge threat to themselves.
It is very likely that there are already mopping up troops being targeted by them. When the opportunity comes, they will launch a fatal attack, eat one of the three mopping up troops, and cut off one of their own arms. Then the price paid by the imperial army for this counter-mopping up will be even greater.
If you are too big, you will lose face even more.
He raised his eyebrows and asked: "Contact the frontline mopping up troops immediately. I want to know their specific battle situation today. The more detailed the better."
"I'll contact them right now." The deputy chief of staff standing beside him immediately started to move.
As soon as I walked to the door, I saw a communications staff officer running over and reporting from a distance.
"Sir, the telegram from the direction of Laiyuan to sweep the troops has arrived..."
The deputy chief of staff glanced at the contents of the telegram and hurried back to the war room. He found the army commander and reported seriously: "Your Excellency, army commander, this is the report just sent back by the east-route mopping up troops."
"The battle situation is much worse than yesterday."
"Faced with our crazy attack, the Eighth Route Army had no preparation yesterday and was obviously caught off guard. Both sides paid a huge price."
"Because of the huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, even if the casualty ratio between the two sides reaches one to one, we will win in the end."
"If we continue, we can kill at least 3,000 Eighth Route Army troops in three days."
"There are less than 10,000 people in the garrison. After deducting the ones we killed before, if you add these 3,000 people, they will be almost wiped out."
"Even if we weren't driven into the deep mountains and forests, the few remaining soldiers wouldn't be able to control such a large base. It would take at least a year to regain strength."
"This is still the time it takes for the imperial army to stop harassing them."
"If the imperial army stationed heavy troops in their base area and further reduced their living space, the garrison would not be able to recover in two years."
"The defense team seems to have figured out our conspiracy, and today's fighting style has obviously changed."
"Last night, we relocated all the surrounding people and laid a large number of landmines on the roads around the station."
"The main force was not as passive as yesterday when facing the imperial army's surprise attack. Instead, it took the initiative to attack."
"Extensive use of mobile warfare and ambush warfare consumes our troops."
"This is the battle damage just calculated by the East Road mopping up troops."
"Today the Imperial Army lost more than 300 people, and the Imperial Association Army lost two companies. The result was no more than 200 people, and that's what they expected."
"Every exchange of fire with the Eighth Route Army was initiated by them and they retreated on their own initiative."
"We fought all day and didn't see a single Eighth Route Army corpse."
The bad premonition on the commander's face became stronger and he asked anxiously: "Where are the Chinese and Western raiding troops?"
"Their telegram hasn't arrived yet, and I've already sent someone to rush for it!" the deputy chief of staff replied quickly.
As soon as he finished speaking, rapid footsteps sounded at the door.
The communications staff officer walked in and began to report: "Sir, the report telegrams from the Chinese and Western sweep forces have also arrived."
The deputy chief of staff received the telegram and read it carefully.
The more he looked at them, the more solemn his expression became. He lowered his head and reported: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, their situation is exactly the same as that of the East Road mopping up troops."
"The Eighth Route Army we encountered today seemed to have changed its troops. It completely took the initiative on the battlefield and caused huge casualties to our troops."
"When the enemy changes, I change!"
Hearing this, the military commander didn't waste any words and made a decisive decision.
"Give the frontline an order now: start withdrawing troops at dawn, we will not fight."
"I think the garrison not only saw our intention to retaliate against them, but also planned to take advantage of our desire for revenge and consume a large amount of our troops."
"What worries me most is the Eighth Route Army attacking the logistics base. They have disappeared for three days. They are probably lurking in a corner of the battlefield. They will wait for our mopping up troops to reveal their flaws and then launch a fatal attack, severely damaging or even annihilating the troops mopping up along the way.
."
"We can't give them that chance."
"Withdraw your troops immediately before they show up."
The deputy chief of staff was convinced and immediately replied: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, is wise and humble. Go and give the order now."
The army commander thought for a moment and added: "By the way, send a telegram to the aviation force as well."
"In addition to continuing to send aircraft to cover and sweep the troops, all the remaining aircraft of the aviation force were dispatched to conduct low-altitude reconnaissance on the battlefield. To find this missing Eighth Route Army, I have a feeling that they have opened their bloody mouth. If they don't move, they will stop.